Higher Fines Up The Ante On Distracted Driving

The number of highway accidents due to distracted driving continues as laws forbidding texting and other distractions are widely ignored.

Thus, new state laws increasing the fines for sending text messages or using handheld phones while driving are a necessity.

Starting Oct. 1, laws will increase the first-offense fine for cellphone use from $125 to $150. Second offenses will go from $250 to $300, and third offenses will jump from $400 to $500.

It is hoped there will also be increased enforcement, because distracted driving is no minor matter. Here are the grim facts:

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3,331 people were killed in 2011 in accidents involving distracted driving, an increase of 64 from the year before. In 2011, 387,000 people were injured in such accidents.

A 2011 CDC study showed than nearly 70 percent of American drivers admitted to having made phone calls while driving. More than 30 percent of drivers said they had read or sent text messages while driving.

Another new law clarifies just what is meant by "driving." Starting in October, even those stopped at a traffic signal or sitting motionless in a traffic jam will be considered to be driving, and will risk a fine if using a handheld phone.

The new measures also allow insurance companies to consider distracted-driving violations when setting customers' policy rates.

Good. And if all these changes don't help, the next step should be yanking the licenses of repeat violators. The fewer distracted drivers on the roads, the better.